This clerk has just turned away a gay couple AGAIN after being ordered not to by a judge
A county clerk from the US state of Kentucky has turned away a same-sex couple for a marriage licence, despite being told specifically by a federal judge that she could not refuse to marry couples.
Kim Davis, a County Clerk from Rowan County, turned away David Moore and David Ernold on Thursday.
Just hours before she was ordered by a federal judge to do the opposite.
US District Judge David L Bunning ordered Davis and her office to comply with a US Supreme Court Ruling earlier this year which found that all couples, same or opposite-sex have a constitutional right to marry.
Bunning wrote that her refusal “likely violated the constitutional rights of her constituents.”
According to Deputy clerk Nathan Davis, the office has been advised by its attorneys to continue refusing same-sex couples, as the ruling against it will be filed with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Davis has been the subject of a drawn out lawsuit after she was sued by five couples, and has argued that her deeply held Christian beliefs prevent her from issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples.
The Associated Press reports that Ernold called Davis’ refusal “cruel”.
Testifying last month, Davis said she “sought God” before refusing to marry the couples.
“It was something I had prayed and fasted over,” she said under oath. “It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision.”
Going on Davis said she “can’t” marry same-sex couples, as if she does, she considers that an endorsement of same-sex relationships.
“If I say they are authorised, I’m saying I agree with it,” she said.
Acting for Davis was attorney Roger Gannam, who said the case is “not about these plaintiffs’ desire to get married,” saying they could drive to another county.
Instead, Gannam said, the plaintiffs’ “desire to force Kim Davis to approve and authorise their marriages in violation of her constitutionally protected religious beliefs.”
The plaintiffs argue that they should not have to drive to another county “because [Davis] was not doing her job.”
Despite calls from the plaintiffs to resign over the issue, Davis said she has no intention to.
